By Tracy Ouellette
Staff Writer
How to get out correct information to the public was discussed at the June 13 Waterford Sanitary District monthly meeting.
At issue are concerns about unspecified “rumors and misinformation” that Board President Bill Gerard said are being spread around town.
Commissioners talked about the best ways to make that what they do and decide are as “transparent” as possible.
Sanitary District office administrator Debbie Nelson said district Attorney John Macy had suggested putting something in the newspaper to clear up any misconceptions the public might have.
Gerard said there is a lot of misinformation out there, but didn’t give any specific examples. “I think what that is, is newspaper articles,” he said.
Commissioner Jeff Santaga asked if it is possible to use the District’s website to better disseminate information by posting things such as the monthly treasurer’s report and the annual budget.
Commissioners discussed the possible pros and cons of using the web for posting information, noting it would allow them to give everyone the information, but recognizing that some of that information might be confusing and could generate more questions.
Gerard said anyone with questions can call the Sanitary District at anytime for clarification.
“I don’t see a downside (to using the website),” said Commissioner Donna Block.
Nelson said she was a little concerned about posting some documents, such as the treasurer’s report, to the web as she wasn’t “a computer expert” and sometimes had problems using the office scanner in instances like this.
“In the long run, it might be easier for you instead of fielding every request,” Santaga told Nelson.
“There’s a lot being said that’s not true,” said Gerard. “It’s a start on getting the information out there.”
Nelson again brought up the issue of rumors and misinformation.
Using the website’s “Did you know?” tab was discussed as a possible solution, allowing the district to post rebuttals to specific “rumors” that are identified in the community.
Commissioners voted unanimously to approve using the website get the word out. There is now a new tab on the site called “Fact & Fiction” where a dozen of the “rumors” out there are listed, ranging from grinder pump agreements to nepotism.
It offers detailed explanations to why they are not factual statements. To view, visit townofwaterfordsd.com/fact-fiction to read it.
No talking
The board also discussed changes to the citizen comment time at meetings.
Santaga reminded the board that Attorney Macy had warned that they couldn’t have a two-way dialogue with anyone speaking in the citizen comment time.
If there are questions that were presented to the board at that time, they could be put on the agenda for the next meeting to be addressed by the board, but the board could not answer them at that time.
“We just can’t get into a two-way conversation,” said Santaga.
The board voted unanimously to change the wording to be placed on future agendas to reflect this policy.
Immediately following the vote, the question was then raised if it was okay for the board to answer a citizen’s question about an item on the agenda for the meeting they were in and Gerard answered, yes they could, seeming to contradict intent behind the vote they had just taken.
In other business
The board voted to hold over discussion of the responsibility for future grinder pump costs until the next monthly meeting.
It also did not take action on an expenditure approval policy as Block wanted more time to investigate how this is handled in other municipalities, as she had been talking to the Village of Waterford treasurer and had more questions.
Operations Superintendent Norm Nelson gave the board a brief report on the situation with the manholes and the fact that extensions needed to be added to about 44 of them. The work would be started next year. Because the total cost of this was going to be quite large (about $1,000 a manhole), he told the board he was going to spend about $10,000 out of this year’s budget to buy some of the extensions.
And then the Board went into closed session.
-
-
-
-
-